John Kasich releases new campaign ad

Tuesday

Apr 22, 2014 at 12:01 AMApr 22, 2014 at 2:09 PM

Gov. John Kasich is releasing his second campaign TV ad in as many weeks, another 60-second spot that also mirrors his first ad in that it is largely a biographical piece. If you're counting at home - that's two re-election ads for Kasich before then-Gov. Ted Strickland had aired any in his failed re-election bid four years ago. Also, Kasich's likely Democratic opponent this time, Ed FitzGerald, has released only one radio ad.

Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

Gov. John Kasich is releasing his second campaign TV ad in as many weeks, another 60-second spot that also mirrors his first ad in that it is largely a biographical piece.

If you’re counting at home — that’s two re-election ads for Kasich before then-Gov. Ted Strickland had aired any in his failed re-election bid four years ago. Also, Kasich’s likely Democratic opponent this time, Ed FitzGerald, has released only one radio ad.

The Republican Kasich’s latest spot, “Lift,” opens with the governor giving an in-home interview about the values he’s learned from his working-class parents — nuggets he’s been using in speeches for months.

“I’ve always had sort of an underdog mentality about things,” Kasich says in the piece. “Because you have power or because you have wealth, so what? I mean economic growth and prosperity shouldn’t be limited to a few.”

The FitzGerald campaign’s response was similar to its response from Kasich’s first ad, in large part because the ads are similar. “In reality, the governor has done little to allow Ohio's middle class families to achieve the same success he has,” FitzGerald’s team in a statement, citing a recent study which showed the top 1 percent in Ohio saw income growth of nearly 15 percent from 2009-11, seventh highest in the nation, while incomes for the other 99 percent fell 0.4 percent.

Kasich says when he took office (in January of 2011), Ohio was “down 350,000 jobs. Now we’re up almost a quarter of a million, and I just think we’re scratching the surface.”

According to government numbers released last week, the state has added 221,000 jobs since Kasich took office. The ad represents a bit of a changeup for Kasich in at least one way: he normally cites the number of private-sector jobs added under his watch — which is higher — instead of the total jobs figure.

Also left unsaid in the piece was that the 374,400 jobs lost from January, 2007 to January of 2011 under Strickland’s tenure occurred during a devastating national recession.

The Kasich campaign released the ad to the press this morning, but has not yet purchased TV air time. The purchase is expected later today and the ad is expected to begin airing Wednesday.